I can't seriously play PoE unless they somehow make combat less.... slow. It's like playing D3 in slow-mo. I'll probably goof around with it, but the way combat currently is, it's just a game-breaker for me. If they could fix that up, I'd give it a decent whirl.

That's weird you say that cause I complained to a friend once about D3 how it felt like my character was running around in slow motion and the whole game felt like it had some slow time effect on it.

I actually had that problem when I was using an older computer, literally, it would be like my character was running through molasses. I honestly, couldnt play, I kept dying besides for the sheer slowness. I switched computers and afterwards it felt like he was on Speed.

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I agree with feminism. I don't think that it's right that for every dollar a man makes, a women gets 70 cents. Why do I only get 30 cents and some chick gets the rest?

Hmm, well I've never had any problems with D3 technically. My computer maxes the game out easily. Yet it still just feels like it's in slow motion. I'm not explaining it good, I know. Maybe it's the way the 3D environment feels in comparison to D2's.

Lineage 3 looks a million times better than PoE, and I'm definitely going to try it out. I'm in agreement that the combat looks way too sluggish in PoE. It may not be a bad game when it releases, but it does look raw. I'm sticking with D3 for the long haul though.

I'll vote for Diablo III based on the fact that it's the best game I've ever played, Although not a flawless masterpiece, Diablo III is fucking incredible. I don't find Path of Exile or Torchlight 2 appealing in the slightest.

No, it's not like DIII. In DIII mobs get to hurt you. In this gameplay video of LineageIII don't even come close.

Only on Hell / Inferno. Any normal/nm character can one shot all the threats he faces before getting damaged, execly like this game. Not to mention this is an gameplay demonstration. Take D3 2008 announcement video and see how the barbarian one shot a horde of ghouls only spamming cleave without even getting damaged.

No, DIII is not shiny and repetitive. The engine is several years old and each encounter with elites plays differently and required different strategy. In that video over there the guy just presses a button and everything around dies. So boring.

Different strategies ? I dunno what game you're playing. I use the same tatic on every single champ (hit and run) and it works just fine. This game has an bunch of affixes but the gameplay is so clunky that you can't realy adaptate to then. Never saw anyone fighting a arcane pack by moving in circles, people just kite stuff out of the danger zone. Arcane, plagued, dessacrator, molten, all are beaten by the very same way. And the majority of other affixes doesn't really give you a tatical choice, it's just a harder monster to kill and you gotta be better at kiting and use your defensive stuff.

And yes, Asian, coz Asian games often overbuff the main hero and grant him over the top powers while battling an on-screen pandemonium without getting a scratch.

I dunno what Asian games you have played. Everything on RO and Lineage 2 one shooted me. You're being really ignorant to associate Asian with easy games. Asian games are time consuming and repetitive, yes, but they are not easy by any means.
I think i've never played something easier then D3 normal.

All in all, don't even talk to me about other action RGPs like PoB, TL2 or whatever. With all its flaws DIII is still miles ahead of them. And I am not a Blizz fanboy, btw..

You don't have any object claim to back up this statement. D3 has bugged hit boxes (things hit you when you're not there, you move and attack enemies because they leave no place in the screen for you to click) and items are way to over the top, they basically change your character so much you can make the game "cheap" (a properly geared barb can effectively ignore all the things you should be evading and many boss fights are merely tank-spank).
This alone makes TL raw gameplay better once it's more precise. I never found myself attacking when i wanted to move in that game or getting hitted by a javelin that is 16 yards distance from me.

I've been playing PoE for about 2 or 3 months before D3 and while it looks interesting at first it just doesn't have the polish it needs to keep me playing. It has many good ideas but very few are implemented so they work. I will be following its development and try it every now and then, but that is about it. For me D3 is here to stay for a while

After coming from the PoE Open Beta Weekend, I'd have to say the game really does impress especially when you consider it's Indie developed and is Free to Play. It's very well done, honestly, even though it lacks a lot of polish that could make it great. I still find D3 more preferable to any other similar game, but I do enjoy each ARPG for its own flavor. It's like liking multiple flavors of ice cream, I guess.

The customization you can achieve in PoE is very high, the only problem with it is that you have to level up any skills you don't have from scratch and you can possibly lose a build you were using just by upgrading gear. It makes it so gear is even more important now than ever and it will make some seriously hard choices on do you want those stats on the item or do you really need those socket colors... or maybe there's an augment pathway that gives you a really good skill combination but you lose it if you were to chance that piece out, even though you could still keep the individual skills.

PoE does feel a bit slower. Ranged combat feels pretty good but melee felt wanting, as if monsters didn't really respond to your attacks like they should. It's kind of weird to describe as I only played a tiny tiny bit of melee. I found that I spammed one ability over and over and the AoE skills really didn't work well in larger packs over just casting fireball over and over. It's odd because some spells like fireball feel really good and strong but Firestorm feels weak, like those raining meteors are really just toasted marshmallows.

I suppose the biggest gripe I had bout it was the constant resetting of my instances when I wasn't in them. It made death a real chore even though you don't lose anything for it. You might end up having to clear an area over and over again when you just want to progress the story or get to the next difficulty. It was especially bad when I ran into the Act 1 end boss and really had nothing I could do other than die over and over again to kill it. It was a hard fight, but not really in the fun "I can get better" way, more like the frustrating "why does the boss have that ability" way.

The thing to remember, every issue listed is something that can be changed. The game only just put in the 2nd act boss, so there's plenty of time.

For anyone interested, I recorded my entire play session during the beta weekend and I muse over the game and give my thoughts as I play it. I put up part one where I just talk about the basic systems so if anyone's curious please have a look. The other videos will be going up in time, I just need to render and upload and I might get held back if the PS2 beta starts up today or tomorrow as has been suggested.

On the other hand, the item/build diversity and complexity and the end-game system in PoE is just so much more interesting than the ones in D3 - one can't even compare it. In D3 everything feels linearized and simplified at some point.

I guess I will take a break from D3 once the open beta of PoE starts (although I will return to D3 if Blizz manages to produce an expansion that takes D3 to another level - similar to D2 and LoD)

Italofoca, gettin a little butthurt people are hatin on PoE when it's a PoS? Yet you dont understand when it's turned around and people defend D3.

Either way, PoE is not a very well done game at all. Very small number of monster types with usually one or two per zone. Every class being able to use every skill with gems means there almost isn't a single difference in what you roll. Combat is lame with just one or two skill spamming. Also the monitory system doesnt feel right at all. D3 is many light years ahead of D3.

Hmm, well I've never had any problems with D3 technically. My computer maxes the game out easily. Yet it still just feels like it's in slow motion. I'm not explaining it good, I know. Maybe it's the way the 3D environment feels in comparison to D2's.

Yeah i know exactly what you mean. It was the same for me when i changed from dota to hon when it just came out. Dota felt alot faster and the spells felt much faster. But when i got used to hon it felt normal. But i can't say i have the same feel in diablo 3 though.

But i stoped play diablo 2... about 4-5 years ago and you pherhaps more recent. Can meaby be the factor there.

Regards Xpire.

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"Tried the adventuring life. Didn't care for it. Too much pain, not enough profit." - Vidar the Collector

PoE's combat is extremely clunky, I couldn't bring myself to like it. I do actually enjoy the "action" part of arpgs, and D3 is hands down the best in that department today (even TL2's combat feels very clunky).

Honestly, I couldn't help but think that Titan Quest or Torclight werea much better games than PoE when I tried it. Yes, it has beautiful textures and nice modern effects, but the systems lead to very obvious paths of least resistance and optimal builds in that game, and the bugs and clunky combat is just annoying.

It is one hell of a victory for an indie developer, but still not even close to an arpg masterpiece.

PoE's combat is extremely clunky, I couldn't bring myself to like it. I do actually enjoy the "action" part of arpgs, and D3 is hands down the best in that department today (even TL2's combat feels very clunky).

Honestly, I couldn't help but think that Titan Quest or Torclight werea much better games than PoE when I tried it. Yes, it has beautiful textures and nice modern effects, but the systems lead to very obvious paths of least resistance and optimal builds in that game, and the bugs and clunky combat is just annoying.

It is one hell of a victory for an indie developer, but still not even close to an arpg masterpiece.

I quite agree with the feel of combat being clunky. Torchlight 2 was better in that regard but Diablo 3 just really streamlines and captures what smooth combat should feel like.

My praise of the game is simply based on the Indie development front. There's a lot of work that's going on here that's got a ton of potential. Masterpiece? No, far from it. I think if they resolve the issues with combat and just pay attention to their community feedback that it could be a really amazing game... and you really can't beat the cost.

On the other hand, the item/build diversity and complexity and the end-game system in PoE is just so much more interesting than the ones in D3 - one can't even compare it. In D3 everything feels linearized and simplified at some point.

I guess I will take a break from D3 once the open beta of PoE starts (although I will return to D3 if Blizz manages to produce an expansion that takes D3 to another level - similar to D2 and LoD)

The end game of PoE is probably what surprised me the most and I like the idea they came up with. It would be cool if Diablo could incorporate something like that.

For those who haven't looked into it or seen the videos that Total Biscuit put out on it: End game you can find map pieces at random. You then generate a portal to a random world based on the map pieces you put together. each piece can have positive and negative modifiers to the map. You might be able to make sure that more large chests spawn, but the monsters are tougher. you might in turn then reduce the monster difficulty but add damage zones to the floor. There's little end to the amount of combinations it sounds like. This is really what makes me excited about their game.

Italofoca, gettin a little butthurt people are hatin on PoE when it's a PoS? Yet you dont understand when it's turned around and people defend D3.

Either way, PoE is not a very well done game at all. Very small number of monster types with usually one or two per zone. Every class being able to use every skill with gems means there almost isn't a single difference in what you roll. Combat is lame with just one or two skill spamming. Also the monitory system doesnt feel right at all. D3 is many light years ahead of D3.

I thought the same thing about every class using every skill when I first started. I was worried it'd be horribly homogenized but it really isn't. Your class choice dictates what primary attributes you get and those stats are the only ones that grow with level. Each skill will have level and stat requirements that means a Strength brawler like the Marauder won't be using spells as he has little to no Intelligence. The only way to work around this is to find gear with a lot of the stat you need or to pick up every +stat node in the passive skill tree. Even then you might not be able to use the highest levels of that skill. It allows hybrid classes to pick up skills from 2 different classes but not really master one or the other, but they can pick up passives that make them just a bit more unique.

Some of the passives are rather interesting, but I think those are rather few and far between. There's one that lets you take your mana shield and just turn it into mana. One that lets you have only 1HP but you get 50% more mana shield and immunity to one damage type. One allowed you to take the melee bonus damage from strength and turn it into ranged damage bonus. One removed your ability to "dodge" attacks but made it so you couldn't ever be stunned. There' some interesting ideas, but again they are kind of rare.

I think at this point the game is mostly feature complete. Feature complete does not mean content complete though. They only have 2 acts and just added the new boss so they still have a lot of work to go. It wouldn't surprise me if we see more monsters added into the game and the combat tightened up, assuming they listen to their fans/community. Of course, they could still be working on systems we don't know anything about yet as the end game map system was a fairly recent announcement.

Now, just so I don't sound like a gushing fanboy as I really do prefer Diablo 3 (I just get excited to see new games come up with new ideas) there are several issues I had with the game. I did not like that I pretty much spammed fireballs the entire beta weekend. I chalk that one up to my AoE spells and other abilities not having enough oomph or firepower behind them. Nothing seemed to trump the fireball to the face. I really do hope that a lot of effort goes into balancing the skills so they each have a role and feel strong. The combat was also fairly clunky as it was difficult to dodge anything as a ranged user just because of the longer cast times and such. It didn't quite feel right.

The maps were HUGE which is a good and bad thing for me. I like to explore so that part was fun, but the maps are pretty much just populated with monsters and there's not much to find out in the world. Even the treasure chests never really interested as I wasn't finding much along the lines of item upgrades. I think the maps could either be scaled down or they should add cool things to find in the world to make exploration worth it. I think Diablo 3 did a beautiful job on this with the random events system.

I did not like how the Act 1 final boss felt at all. I could only dodge one of the abilities being used and the other was an instant hit (no projectile) AoE chill/freeze. Thanks to the problem where I couldn't bring minions into the boss room, I was pretty much powerless against the boss and had to throw myself at her multiple times to win. The good note there is that the boss did not regen health so it's more like Diablo 2 in that regards. Even though I could beat her using that, I really would rather the boss be a challenge due to some mechanic I need to overcome, not just because I don't have enough potions or something. The very first boss (Brutus) was a good example of this, at least for ranged classes.

Lastly, I'm not sure I like having the possibility of losing my skills because of my gear. I cannot deny the augment system has tons of customization possibilities, but it just seems like a bit much to lose the abilities I can use just because my upgrade didn't have the right color slot. I almost think they should add a system where the colored slots aren't REQUIRED to slot a skill, but a gem in the right color slot might be more powerful. Or maybe make it like WoW where you get a bonus for using the right colors in the slots... I'm not sure, it's hard to say on that one.

As for the barter system, since you mentioned it, I think it's neat. I don't think I personally care for it over a gold system, but it's a new idea and new ideas for equipment purchasing are rare.

PoE's combat is extremely clunky, I couldn't bring myself to like it. I do actually enjoy the "action" part of arpgs, and D3 is hands down the best in that department today (even TL2's combat feels very clunky).

Honestly, I couldn't help but think that Titan Quest or Torclight werea much better games than PoE when I tried it. Yes, it has beautiful textures and nice modern effects, but the systems lead to very obvious paths of least resistance and optimal builds in that game, and the bugs and clunky combat is just annoying.

It is one hell of a victory for an indie developer, but still not even close to an arpg masterpiece.

I have to agree with you there. The combat is not in par with diablo 3 at all. But if they fix that (wich every one whines at in the PoE forums and so on.) It will be a game whort playing. But like you say the gameplay itself is one of the biggest part of a game like this.

Sad that Diablo 3 fall so short in "everything" else. But both games got great potentional. Sadly i see more in PoE and beacuse its the underdog it makes it even more intresting in some ways. Just wonder if a indie developer had the money like blizzard have (Well earned no doubt.) It would be so goooood. BUT forget the dreamland and i hope the best for both games.

Regards Xpire.

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"Tried the adventuring life. Didn't care for it. Too much pain, not enough profit." - Vidar the Collector

PoE's combat is not nearly as fluid as D3's. However, I think that PoE has much more support for suboptimal builds than D3. In PoE, it's not trivial to fully respec a character, so if you play a non-standard build, while you can correct errors in the build, it actually means something.

For instance, I have a claw spec witch, which is a pretty unusual build. If I were to play that deep into the game and share the link to that, or play with friends or whatever, there would be an acceptance that, while it's a shitty build all told, I was able to make it work, and I've put effort into it. It gives my character a little more flavor than the average witch. In D3 on the other hand, if you choose a comedy build, there's no indication that you've ever played it prior to choosing it that session, and as soon as things get to be a challenge, you can switch to a more optimal build, and potentially even back again.

Likewise, the tuning in PoE means that with some careful planning, your unusual build can still compete. In D3 the offensive strength of champions post 61 is so high that either you have a perfect build (which you can completely change whenever you want) or else you can't even kill anything. PoE on the other hand just forces you to kill things more slowly or more carefully, or spend more portals or something.

I do really like the fluidity of combat in D3, but I prefer the customization of PoE, and pretty much all of the late game and post-game decisions they've made. I really enjoy that you can find an item that's awesome, but slightly flawed, and can attempt to improve on its flaws. And the more I've played PoE the more I get used to the combat, and it ends up not feeling so bad.